


the right direction

by intuitionist



Series: brooklyn boys [3]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: 96 line is cat line, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, all you need is love and a cat, cat rescue, soonyoung's tiger print hoodie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29280132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intuitionist/pseuds/intuitionist
Summary: Like many of Brooklyn’s cat rescuers, Wonwoo's spent the days leading up to today’s big storm working frantically to bring in as many friendly cats as possible and to set up outdoor shelters for those who are too feral to ever be happy inside. Now the snow is coming down steadily—the biggest storm in years, the forecasters say—and all his efforts feel like nothing in the face of Mother Nature.(A snow storm hits New York during the pandemic. Cat rescuer Wonwoo does his best to be ready.)
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi
Series: brooklyn boys [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2077344
Comments: 10
Kudos: 43





	the right direction

**Author's Note:**

> This is self-indulgent fluff, but please consider it a gift to all the soonwoo readers who gave such a warm welcome to my first svt fic. Also, let’s be real: I will never get tired of Wonwoo with cats.
> 
> This is a direct sequel to [even if you don’t know everything](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28279473), so I do suggest reading that first.
> 
> You can find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/intuitionist17)!

It’s hard for Wonwoo to enjoy snow storms these days. 

They are still beautiful to watch from the comfort of the apartment, especially in the early hours of a storm when the snow is coming down fast, the world has slowed to a temporary halt, and everything is clean and white. With the pandemic, Wonwoo doesn’t even need to worry about the snow disrupting his commutes to and from work, since all he has to do these days is turn on his computer at the appropriate time each morning. And this winter, there’s also Soonyoung beside him, Soonyoung who runs perpetually warm and only complains mildly about Wonwoo’s cold hands when Wonwoo sneaks them under his sweatshirt to steal his warmth. 

(Wonwoo kisses the complaints away, and Soonyoung shuts up every single time.)

It’s hard for Wonwoo to enjoy the snow these days because now he’s aware of all the cats out on the streets with little or no protection from the elements. Like many of Brooklyn’s cat rescuers, he’s spent the days leading up to today’s big storm working frantically to bring in as many friendly cats as possible and to set up outdoor shelters for those who are too feral to ever be happy inside. Now the snow is coming down steadily—the biggest storm in years, the forecasters say—and all his efforts feel like nothing in the face of Mother Nature.

Soonyoung catches him frowning as they eat dinner that night. “You’re being too hard on yourself,” he says, not for the first time. “You’ve done so much.”

Wonwoo pokes moodily at his rice. “I know.”

Soonyoung’s not going to let him get away with that, and he starts counting on his fingers. “You stayed out three nights in a row trapping with Junnie. We have a foster cat in our bathroom, plus two more recovering from spay/neuter surgery in your office. You and Mingyu made another batch of outdoor shelters. You’ve volunteered to help feed two colonies tomorrow because the usual feeders can’t manage in the snow.”

Okay, that does sound like a lot.

“And I know that you know that one person can’t save the world, since I hear you remind Jun of that all the time.”

There are few things more annoying than having your own words turned back at you. Nevertheless, it’s an effective distraction, especially when they are delivered by a completely serious Soonyoung wearing his favorite (and truly hideous) tiger print hoodie.

Wonwoo wants to kiss the righteous pout off Soonyoung’s face, so he puts down his chopsticks and does just that.

“We should finish eating,” Soonyoung mumbles when they break for air.

“You know when you wear that hoodie that I just want to take it off you,” Wonwoo reminds him, before kissing him again with more intent. 

“You should just tell me when you want me to cheer you up with sex,” Soonyoung complains, as he climbs into Wonwoo’s lap.

Wonwoo slides his eternally cold hands under the hem of Soonyoung’s hoodie and appreciates Soonyoung’s shiver when Wonwoo’s hands touch his warm sides. “You seem to figure it out anyway.”

Soonyoung takes Wonwoo’s glasses off and places them carefully on the kitchen table. Then he tilts Wonwoo’s head this way and that before saying softly, “It won’t be long before I have you all figured out.”

It’s the best feeling in the world, Wonwoo thinks, being seen and being known. Then he strips the hoodie off over Soonyoung’s head and turns his attention back to more immediate matters.

❄️

Later that night, when Soonyoung’s snoring cutely in the middle of their bed, Wonwoo puts on some clothes that he finds on the floor and retrieves his glasses from the kitchen table before checking on their three feline guests. The two ferals huddle in the farthest corners of their respective crates while he puts fresh food and water in their bowls. They seem to be recovering well from their surgeries, but they’re clearly miserable inside, and he’ll return them to their colonies once the blizzard is over. He knows that they’d prefer to be left alone, so he does just that, giving more of his time to the shy orange tabby currently living in their bathroom. Wonwoo and Jun both think this cat must have had a home once, which means he was probably abandoned on the street like so many others in this awful year. He’s still waiting for a new name from Soonyoung, but the sweet boy seems content to have a soft bed and regular meal service. He purrs a little as Wonwoo scratches under his chin.

Wonwoo cleans up the remains of his and Soonyoung’s abandoned dinner before returning to their room and slipping back under the covers. Soonyoung grumbles a little as Wonwoo pulls him closer, but he doesn’t wake up enough to verbalize any actual words. Wonwoo smiles in the dark and kisses the nape of Soonyoung’s neck before going back to sleep himself.

❄️

By the time the storm ends, there’s over a foot of snow on the ground and even taller banks where the wind or snow plows have done their work. Wonwoo’s lived in this neighborhood long enough that he knows which buildings do a good job of clearing their sidewalks down to the bare pavement, which buildings never put out enough snow melt, and which corners will inevitably have treacherously deep puddles of icy water. 

“Be careful out there,” Soonyoung says, as Wonwoo prepares to head out with a backpack full of cat food for his feeding rounds. “The sidewalks look messy.”

“It’s not that far. Have you picked a name for our bathroom friend?”

“I’m still thinking about it. I have some good ideas, though.”

The first colony is just around the corner from their place. The regular feeder is down with a cold—just an everyday common cold, which is a relief to all—and has agreed to let others take over feeding for the week so he can rest properly. Wonwoo’s splitting the days with another rescuer on the block. There’s no sign of the colony cats when he first arrives, but they appear as soon as he pops open the first can. They’re a little suspicious of him, since he’s not their usual feeder, but they’re happy to eat the food he provides once he takes a few steps away from it.

The second colony is a little further away, but Wonwoo had personally reached out to the feeder to see if she needed help because of the storm. It’s the colony where they trapped the Avatar kittens and their feral mama. The feeder is an older lady named Sheila, and she had twisted her ankle in a bad fall a couple weeks earlier. Nothing’s broken, but she’s still limping. Wonwoo had been horrified by the idea of her trying to manage in a foot of snow. 

Sheila comes to her front door when Wonwoo texts that he’s arrived. “It’s really kind of you to do this.”

“It’s no trouble,” he assures her. “Good excuse to get out of the house. How’s your foot?”

“It’s getting better, but it’s really slow.”

Wonwoo notices that no one has cleared the sidewalk or steps of her building yet. “Do you have a building super who takes care of the snow?”

“They’re supposed to,” she says with a shrug that tells him it doesn’t actually happen. “It’s not worth complaining about.”

“If there’s a shovel around, I can clear a little for you, so at least your steps won’t ice over.”

She finds a shovel in an unlocked maintenance closet, and Wonwoo clears the steps and a narrow path to the sidewalk. It’s not a lot, but at least it’s a start. Then he heads around to the back of the building and clears a path from the back door to the trash cans. He also clears a larger patch of ground where he knows the feeder usually puts out the cats’ food. 

Again, there’s no sign of any of the cats until Wonwoo makes what some of his rescuer friends call the international feeding sound. “Psspsspsspsspss.”

Two big tabbies appear almost immediately and begin to tuck into their meal of Friskies’ stinkiest. They’re about halfway done when a familiar face shows up—the tuxedo mama of two of Wonwoo’s former foster kittens.

This is the very smart tuxedo who led Jun on a merry chase last fall, evading his trapping efforts for nearly a month. Wonwoo had finally caught her with a plate of sardines and his then-new drop trap. She had hated every minute of her confinement. So Wonwoo is astonished when she walks right past his feet in order to dig into a plate of food. When she’s finished eating, she lingers by the empty plate and starts grooming her fluffy face without a care in the world. 

That is not normal behavior for a feral cat. Wonwoo crouches down and says, “Hi there, Mama. Do you remember me?”

She flicks her majestic tail once, and then continues grooming.

He digs in his coat pocket and pulls out a bag of treats. They’re slightly frozen, thanks to the weather, but he warms a couple up with his hands and breath before tossing them in front of her. At first she’s startled by the unexpected movement, and she retreats a few steps. She soon comes back to sniff at the treats on the ground before eating them. When they’re gone, she looks up at him hopefully.

“Those weren’t even sardines,” he tells her. He warms up a couple more treats and tosses them on the ground between them, a little closer to his feet this time. She takes a cautious step forward to grab them in her mouth, and then retreats again to eat them at a safer distance. “Maybe I’m not so bad after all, hmm?”

He cleans up the empty plates and stops to say goodbye to the feeder. “That tuxie is the same mom cat that we TNRed before Thanksgiving, right?”

“That’s right. She didn’t come back for a couple days, but she’s been here almost every day since then.”

“Is it just me, or is she a lot friendlier now? She was really unhappy when we trapped her with her kittens.”

“Maybe?” The feeder thinks for a while. “She’s never been very scared of me, just too smart to go into a box trap. I’ve been able to pet her a few times. I’ve always thought Star probably had a home at some point. She’s never seemed completely feral to me.”

“Star?”

“Ah, that’s what I call her. She seems like a celebrity in that classy tux!”

“It’s a nice name,” Wonwoo says, thinking of his own star who wants to be a tiger. “I’ll be back to help tomorrow, but you know, if you think she could be happy inside, just let me or Jun know. We could give it a try.”

Star. Of all names. It must be a sign.

❄️

By the end of the week, the bathroom cat has been named Kyo and the two feral friends have been released back to their colony. There are still piles of snow all over Brooklyn, though the temperatures have been mild enough that they’ve melted a lot. Still, there’s already another storm on its way, and Jun is busy texting Wonwoo with support plans for the different colonies in their neighborhood.

Those plans are derailed, however, when Wonwoo gets an unexpected phone call from Sheila, the colony feeder.

“I’m really sorry to call you, but I wasn’t sure who else to ask.”

“What’s going on?”

“It’s my building super, the lazy one who doesn’t shovel,” Sheila says. “He’s decided that he doesn’t want the cats around anymore, and he’s scaring the cats away when they show up. They haven’t been able to eat for the last two days. I have another friend down the street who is going to start putting food out, but I’m not sure if the cats are going to find it. I’m really worried for them.”

This is the danger for every colony—it only takes one or two bad actors in the neighborhood to put all the cats at risk. “That’s awful. How can I help?”

“I think we should try to trap Star. The super isn’t here right now, his car is gone. This block might not be safe for her much longer, and I do think she could be happy inside. You saw it yourself on Tuesday. The other two are completely feral, but she’s different. Even if it doesn’t work...just keeping her away for a few days might be good enough. The super’s an idiot. He might just forget about the cats if he doesn’t see them for a while.”

It’s not how Wonwoo planned to spend his Saturday, but that hasn’t mattered in a long time. “I’ll be there in an hour,” Wonwoo tells her. 

❄️

It feels all too familiar—setting up the drop trap, baiting it with sardines, and then hunkering down to wait in the cold with a giant thermos of coffee. 

Except this time it’s stupidly easy. Star shows up in the first half hour, waving her majestic tail as she sniffs carefully around the perimeter of the drop trap. She’s definitely suspicious of the drop trap, but she’s undoubtedly very hungry after two days without her regular meals.

Once again, the sardines work their magic. Star walks under the trap, and as soon as she’s fully focused on the sardines, Wonwoo pulls the string and the trap falls. 

When he’s loaded almost everything into his car, including a very annoyed Star in her transport carrier, Wonwoo realizes that he’s left his trusty thermos behind. He goes back to retrieve it and finds it in his waiting spot, still mostly full. 

❄️

By now, Soonyoung is as familiar with the foster routine as Wonwoo is. Alerted by Wonwoo’s texts, Soonyoung has everything set up in the large crate in the office by the time Wonwoo gets home: food and water dishes, a soft bed, a litter pan.

“I thought you’d be out all night again,” Soonyoung says as he takes the cat carrier from Wonwoo. He peeks under the cover and is greeted with a hiss. “Ooh, a spicy one.”

“She’s Toph and Katara’s mom,” Wonwoo says, referring to their foster kittens from November. He describes the threat to the colony. “I’m assuming we won’t be able to return her if this doesn’t work out.”

“Then it’ll have to work out.” Soonyoung grins. “I’ve convinced more stubborn cases before.”

Wonwoo suspects that Soonyoung isn’t just talking about cats, but he decides not to ask.

❄️

Wonwoo wakes up on Sunday morning and sees snow falling outside the windows of the bedroom that he and Soonyoung now share. He’s still worried about the cats on the street, who he hopes managed to find shelter overnight, but at least there are two cats inside with them who will never have to spend a snowy night outdoors again. 

Soonyoung shifts a little closer to him under the covers, just enough for Wonwoo to know he’s awake. 

“Good morning,” Wonwoo whispers.

“Hmm,” Soonyoung mumbles into Wonwoo’s collarbones.

“What should we do today? Guessing we’ll have to stay inside.”

Soonyoung laughs, suddenly more alert. “Oh?”

Wonwoo realizes how his words could have been interpreted. “I didn’t actually mean—”

“Jihoon would probably say we’re still in our honeymoon period.”

“One: please don’t tell Jihoon about our sex life. Two: they’re as bad as us.”

Soonyoung stops pretending to be sleepy and sits up, letting a wave of cold air under the blankets, much to Wonwoo’s dismay. Soonyoung is always up earlier in the morning, perhaps because he’s not dependent on half a pot of coffee to start his day. His hair is a rumpled mess, and his face is still soft with sleep. Wonwoo wants to squish him.

“You know, I was thinking of some good names for the mom cat last night. At first I was thinking other _Fruits Basket_ names, but then I realized another _Avatar_ name would be more appropriate.”

“Ah, I forgot to tell you last night. She already has a name.”

Soonyoung frowns. “But my naming rights—”

“Are for cats who don’t already have names.”

“I don’t remember that being a condition,” Soonyoung says. 

“Let me tell you what it is. I think it’s cute.”

“I’m sure the name I’ve thought of is cuter—”

“Star. Her name is Star. Her feeder gave it to her.” Wonwoo picks up Soonyoung’s hand where it lies on top of the blankets and gives it a squeeze. “It’s a good name, right? I heard it and knew that we had to take her in.”

“But Hoshi doesn’t mean star—”

“I know, but it’s still a nice connection, right?”

“Maybe,” Soonyoung says grudgingly. 

At least the pout is mostly gone. Wonwoo gives into temptation and pulls Soonyoung back down on the pillows with him. “It’s too early to be up. Let’s sleep in.”

A little later, they’ll let Kyo kitty out of the bathroom for the first time so he can explore the living room. Sometime after that, Soonyoung will insist on wearing his tiger print hoodie again, with predictable results. When they’re falling asleep at night, Wonwoo will tell Soonyoung that this cat might be the cat that he ends up wanting to keep forever.

For now, though, there’s just the winter light coming through the windows, and the snow falling silently outside, and Wonwoo and Soonyoung, together.

**Author's Note:**

> Please imagine Jihoon laughing hysterically on the floor of Jun’s condo when he learns the name of Wonwoo and Soonyoung’s new cat.
> 
> My original plan was to end [even if you don’t know everything](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28279473) with soonwoo adopting Star, but I went in another direction. Still, you had to know they’d acquire a permanent resident cat eventually. 
> 
> Title once again from Seventeen's [Together](https://twitter.com/17_HAMZZI/status/1275011158169157634).
> 
> Comments and kudos are super appreciated--every single one!


End file.
